My Daybook :: December 11, 2012

Outside my window... 
The weather has been all over the place lately.  Yesterday it was beautiful and sunny, today it is back to cloudy and rainy.  We recently had quite the rain storm come through which caused quite a bit of flooding.  The Sunday before last Sean and the kids stopped by the river on their way home from town and by the time I got back to take a few pictures it had really "calmed down."  It's not as high as I have seen it, but still flooded the park...

These pictures were taken on Sunday, December 1st:

And here are a couple pictures that I took on Friday, December 7th: 

You can see that same little green box from the above picture on the far left on the following picture, to get an idea of how high the river was the previous weekend! 

I am thinking...        
about stocking stuffers and whether or not I want to order this (non-battery version) of the Little People Nativity as a birthday gift for Bud.  I better hurry... He is going to be one on the 19th!

I am thankful... 
that I have most of my Christmas shopping completed.  Now to just get everything wrapped, and the packages that need to be mailed to the post office!

Learning all the time... 
We are just focusing on the essentials this Advent - not working on everything, but not taking Advent completely off either.  The kids are working on Religion, Math. and Language Arts every day, Writing and Latin each week, and History, Science, Geography, and the Alphabet Path can wait until January.

Celebrating the liturgical year... 
Yes, we definitely have been celebrating the liturgical year - with even more celebrations coming up this week!

From the kitchen... 
Peppermint Dipped Snowflake Pretzels from Costco... Oh. My. YUM!!!

I am working on... 
the Celebrate/Quiet Moments section for Catholic Digest beginning with the February/Marsh issue! (Though you will find a recipe from Catholic Cuisine in the January edition!)   I mentioned it on Facebook, but I keep forgetting to mention it here.  My deadline is December 21st and I am very excited, and very nervous.   I am always amazed at God's timing!  The little bit of income this will provide is exactly what Sean's paychecks will be decreasing in January when they start deducting for our new Dental Insurance and Flex Savings Plan we just added to help pay for the kids braces.  God always provides!

I am creating... 
ornaments with the older children to give to their Godparents for Christmas.  They worked on them this past Saturday, and I just need to find a way to get the ribbons for hanging them back through the holes. Perhaps one of the "floss threaders" we have been using for the braces will help!

I am going... 
to try and finish our Christmas Cards this week. Our family picture is far from perfect, but it's the best I have if I want to get cards out before Christmas!
 I am hoping... 
to get on the treadmill today.  It has been way way too long.   I attempted it yesterday, but only got as far as moving the baby swing and unfolding it before something came up.  My Dad recently told me that "He who begins is half done..."  Um... I don't think that applies in this situation!  ;)

I am praying... 
As we were lighting candles and praying for our Christkindl's after Mass on Saturday, Father came over and asked us to also pray for a 7 year boy in our parish who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Will you please offer a prayer for him too?

I am reading... 
Christmas Books and Bible Stories!  Speaking of Bible Stories, do any of you own this new Read-Alound Book of Bible Stories?   It was just published in October, and it doesn't have any reviews yet, but it looks great!

Pondering these words...
spoken by St. Augustine:

"Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore."

I am listening...  
to Advent at Epehsus and loving this new CD!

Around the house... 
I recently moved the Castle to Rose's bedroom and she has been enjoying it so very much!   I think I am going to have to give her a Calico Critter family of her own for either her birthday or Christmas this year.   Isn't the Deer family darling! ;)

The boys have a little green tree that gets set up in their bedroom each year, and the big girls have a purple tree.   When I was out shopping this past weekend I ended up buying this little tree for Rose in her favorite color.  She ran up and down the hallway yelling "Daddy!  Daddy!  I have a tree-uh! It's pink-uh! I luv it!!!"  She was just a little excited!

One of my favorite things...  
choosing Christmas gifts for my children.  I think I enjoy deciding what to give them, just as much as they will love receiving them!  ( Shhhh!  The themes for the big kids this year are pretty much Historical American Girls - have you seen these great craft kits? They will tie in perfectly to the girls History plans! - for the big girls and lots of Legos for the big boys!  I can hardly wait to share more of my picks for this year.  So much fun!) 

This week's plans...

Sunday :: Visiting priest and his Grandmother (who is visiting from Poland!) for dinner. (I loved that my children found little ways in which to communicate with her, even though she doesn't speak English!  Twinkle Toes enjoyed showing her the new book she received on the Feast of St. Nicholas.  And the kids had saved a couple St. Nicholas cookies to give to Father and his Grandmother!)  

Monday :: School, School, School!
Tuesday :: School, Run Errands, Lego Robotics Class
Wednesday ::  Celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe; Dear friends that moved away to the midwest are coming for a visit!!!
Thursday :: Celebrate the Feast of St. Lucy; Lego Robotics Class
Friday ::  Ice Skating, maybe?
Saturday :: Visit with friends ends... Lego Robotics Competition for Boys; Celebrate Rose's 3rd Birthday!

A little peek at my day...

The girls sharing a Hot Cocoa after Mass on the Feast of St. Ambrose, 

before going to cut down a Christmas Tree! 

Glorious Nativity :: A Puzzle for Advent

Our children are getting so fast at putting together these puzzles!   Last Sunday, on the First Sunday of Advent, we gave them a new puzzle, as I mentioned in one of my Preparing for Advent posts this year, and they completed it last night...   I didn't even get to help with it this year!  

 Glorious Nativity 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

I hope your Advent is off to a blessed start!  

Nativity Sets for Children

I'm not sure how many emails I have answered (or still need to answer) on where I purchased the Wooden Nativity Block Set that the children were playing with in my Advent & Christmas Book Baskets Post.  It really is neat, isn't it?!?

I purchased my set quite a few years ago when it was made by HABA, and it doesn't look like they make it any longer.  Haba now sells this beautiful (though very expensive) Wooden Nativity Set.  However you can find a similar set made by Constructive Playthings and it happens to be on sale for just $14.99 at the moment, which is much less than I paid for our set!  It looks almost identical to ours, though we did notice a few differences:  taller columns, more bushes, the addition of camels...

Note:  The stable built out of blocks is so tempting to one little toddler in our home who loves to knock it over, which is quite frustrating to his older (almost three years old) sister!  

This darling Hand Carved Child's First Nativity Set was sent to us as a gift.  It is designed by Kurt Adler, just like our favorite Nativity Advent Calendar.   It's a little more fragile than the block set (i.e. the paint has chipped in a few places) but loved very much by my little ones!

Even though I prefer the wood sets, we also have The Nativity Play Set by one2believe,  an older version of the Playmobil Nativity with The Three Wise Kings, and the Nativity Set by Schleich.

Originally I started out collecting a Child's Nativity Set for each of our children, but it looks like I missed one somewhere along the way and I still haven't found a new set for Bud.  He would probably love the Little People Christmas Story Nativity Scene, but I wish it didn't light up and require batteries...  I love the Kathy Kruse Nativity Set, but it is just too expensive!  Additional options include the Melissa & Doug Nativity Set and the Olive Wood Children's Nativity Set.  However, I think I am leaning more towards creating our own, or purchasing one of the many beautiful sets available on Etsy!

What is your favorite Children's Nativity Set?  

I'd love to hear about it in the comments!  

Dress Suggestions for Santa Lucia Day

Happy feast of the Immaculate Conception!   I don't think I'll ever celebrate this feast without remembering and thanking God for the good news we received on this feast, two years ago today!   It's hard to believe that much time has passed already...

Anyways, I have had quite a few emails lately asking where I purchased our dresses for Santa Lucia Day...   Unfortunately the lovely dresses that my older girls have are not currently available where I purchased them, just the doll sized version. Update: no longer available, link removed. (My girls gowns also came with a pink ribbon/bow sewed to the neckline, which I carefully removed).  

Last year I just used one of my white t-shirts for Rose (which works great for toddlers!) and this year I have been looking for a dress for her to wear.   I bought the big girls their dresses extra extra big back in 2008 and have been cinching them up with the ribbon each year, so we still don't have a hand-me-down for Rose.

I had been looking and finally ran across this cute little imported Scandinavian Swedish Dress for Lucia with Red Ribbon Sash on Ebay!   It is currently available in 4 sizes, and I ordered the XS for Rose. It arrived today and I still need to wash it, but I did try it her to show you all.  It is slightly see-through, which seems to be the case with most white gowns, but I think it is really cute especially the collar and sleeves!

Here are a few other dress options as well:

• Josefina's Night Shift for Girls from American Girl
• White Angel Robe from Oriental Trading
• Girls White Pajama Gown from Amazon
• Little Girls Christmas Nightgown from Etsy
• Megan Girls Dress from April Cornell
• Old Fashioned Nightgowns from Jumpin Bloomers

*If anyone else has additional suggestions, please leave them in the comment box and I will add them to this list.

Additional ideas for celebrating the Feast of St. Lucy can be found in the archives:

Ideas for Celebrating Santa Lucia Day 

Scroll through all posts for St. Lucy

Recipes for St. Lucy at Catholic Cuisine

Celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas :: 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful St. Nicholas Day! Here are a few pictures from our celebration this year:

.: Gifts from St. Nicholas :.

This year St. Nicholas was extra generous, leaving each of the children a new pair of (much needed) boots in addition to a few little treats treats in each of the children's slippers (A Holy Card from St. Nicholas with a note on the back, an orange, and a bag of treats including a St. Nicholas Cookie, a small candy cane Bishop's Staff, and some St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins) and a new Christmas Picture Book!   

Update: You can find our complete list of Christmas Books here.

*Our candles really are purple and pink, even though they all look pink most of the time!

This year's books ended up being Christmas in the Trenches, War Game: Village Green to No-Man's Land, Marta and the Manger Straw, Our Lady of Guadalupe, The Christmas Knight, The Bird's of Bethlehem, and Christmas Night Fair and Bright. 

I sure wasn't thinking when I scheduled orthodontist appointments for 8am on the feast of St. Nicholas, especially with how late I usually end up staying up on the 5th!  Thankfully the alarm was set, and I was the first out of bed... By the time I was done showering, Snuggles had made his way out to the living room to discover the treats!  

Captain and Twinkle Toes got dressed quickly and I snapped a picture of all the kids, before we dashed out the door.   Poor Twinkle Toes now has (in addition to red and green rubber bands for Christmas, matching her older brother) a double wire on top, elastic rubber bands from the top front to bottom back, chains on the bottom, and has been pretty much miserable ever since... Although I was able to get a smile out of her when I took a picture of her with her cookie! :)   

By the end of the day everyone had read (or listened to) their new books, at least once!  

 

.: Saint Nicholas Cookies :.

I've mentioned before that last year we enrolled our children in a local homeschool charter school, and that we have an ES/Tutor that comes about 3 times a month to spend an hour with each child enrolled (3 weeks on, 1 week off plus holidays/vacations). We have been very blessed to have one of my friends, and mother of one of my Little Flowers, as our ES this year! She comes on Thursdays for 5 hours... I LOVE it! It is such a blessing to have even the little bit of help, plus the fact that my older children have to be accountable to someone other than myself! Anyhow, Thursday is the day that she comes, so while she was working with each of the children, I was able to spend some time with the rest of the kids decorating cookies and preparing some treats for our St. Nicholas Day Brunch (which ended up being breakfast for dinner this year!

Yesterday I posted all about these darling cookies that were inspired by the book The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale.  

The other fun cookies that I made this year for the children (or rather from St. Nicholas) were these Saint Nicholas Cookies made with Nutter Butters!  You can find the recipe over at Catholic Cuisine.  

.: St. Nicholas Day Brunch :.

Did you see Charlotte's adaptation of our Candy Cane Coffee Cake and Cherry Cheese Coffee Cakes, combining the shape of one, with the recipe from the other?!   Her and I were thinking along the same lines this year, and I ended up doing the same thing for my family.   It's just so much easier to pop open a few cans of crescent rolls after a long and busy day, than it is to make a braided bread. Plus, I can never go wrong with the Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake, it is hands down the favorite in our home.  

I ended up using the exact recipe for the Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake, only I used three cans of crescent rolls instead of two.    

I made the bottom of each candy cane with 1 1/4 pkgs. of crescent rolls, using the remaining 1/4 package to cut strips to lay over the top. I topped each candy cane with half of the cream cheese mixture and half of the pie filling.

I also served Scrambled Eggs, Oranges, Orange Juice, and St. Nicholas Hot Cocoa (actually just pre-made peppermint cocoa this year, but the same idea).

Update: You can find additional Advent and Christmas Posts listed here.

God, we pray that through the intercessions of St. Nicholas
 you will guide and protect our children. 
Keep them safe from all harm and help them grow
 to become loving disciples of Jesus in your sight. 
Give them strength to always mature into deeper faith
 in you, and to keep alive joy in your creation. 
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.